before & after: chairs, chairs, chairs!

Grace may have moved from chairs to lamps as a new design obsession — definitely a wise move for space-efficiency purposes —but for whatever reason, I am still firmly stuck in the chair world. I admit, it’s a problem. All I have to do is see a beautiful new chair, like this gorgeous rocking chair makeover from Melissa, and I’m on the hunt for a rocker of my own.

Melissa inherited this lovely rocker from her grandmother, and I think she has done a wonderful job reviving the piece while still maintaining its old elegance. The Thomas Paul fabric is the perfect scale for the chair, and the result is a beautiful, modern take on an heirloom piece. Great work, Melissa! — Kate

Have a Before & After you’d like to share? Shoot me an email with your images right here! (Low res, under 500k per image, please.)

CLICK HERE for Heather and Sarah’s chair transformations after the jump!

We don’t usually see chair “makeunders” like this piece from Heather, but it is making me wish we had more. The idea to remove the cushion from the back to reveal a more ornamental wood shape was genius, and I love the combination of the patchy, sanded woodwork with the crisp, high-contrast cushion. I’ve never considered taking a sander to a piece with such abandon, but I must admit that Heather’s beautiful results are very compelling. Amazing job, Heather!

We had so many great chair projects come in, we couldn’t resist giving you a triple play today. Looking at the “before” of this set of dining chairs, you can certainly tell that they have potential. But I couldn’t have guessed how wonderful they would look with the addition of upholstery, and I’m so glad Sarah has opened my eyes to the potential of chairs like these. She’s made amazing changes, and all of them so smart — the mismatched abstract patterns look fantastic, and they instantly make the set seem both more comfortable and more luxurious.

When Sarah submitted these, she mentioned that it was the happy accident of stumbling upon our Before & After column and searching through the entire backlog of posts that inspired her to begin refurbishing furniture and start a side business. We are so thrilled that she found inspiration in the column, and I am truly amazed at how chic and well crafted her projects are already — I hope to see a lot more of your amazing projects come our way, Sarah! Thanks for sharing!

Hi guys, thank you so much for the lovely comments on the chairs I did! Yes, Lucy is right, the fabric is from Cloth Fabric in Sydney, and I am working on a website as we speak. I have a couple of things listed on Etsy (look up re-loveit) and I’m working on more chairs now! Thanks again and watch this space! (thanks heaps Kate!!!)

Hello…I love all the chairs..especially the makeunder and the fabulous fabric in the dining chair one.
but in the end, I also really like that stump in the rocking chair makeover…I am wondering where do people find such nice stumps? I am serious! I need two!

These chairs are all fantastic. Espcecially love the Black and White, very distressed. People are so creative and I love it they share! I have an obsession with chairs too. They are so fun to makeover.

LOVE the fabric on Melissa’s chair – especially those perfectly placed (and perfectly darling) birds. What a fun ‘new’ heirloom. And those dining chairs are just awesome. Thanks for the creative inspiration. :)

Ohmigads!!! I have 4 (!) of the second chair (the before version), with the EXACT SAME green fabric on them, and the dining room table that goes with them. I inherited the set from my grandparents… sadly the dining room table has a veneer top but wood legs… anyway I’ve been going mental for months trying to figure out what I could do with it, and seeing it as an “after” gives me tons of inspiration. All three chairs look fantastic!

This is perfect timing. I am 2/3 through reupholstering a chair a lot like the rocker & I wasn’t sure about my fabric. Now I KNOW it isn’t what I want and I am going to get something big, bold, and graphic just like this. The chenille I have will be a nice fabric for something else, somewhere else. But this chair needs fabric more like what that rocker has.

Thank goodness for this post! I have two chairs I’ve been needing to reupholster for three years. I’ve liked a few fabrics but haven’t found anything I LOVE, until now. I’ve already ordered the fabric Melissa used above in blue and yellow. I can’t wait to finally check this off my to do list!

Love Sarah’s chairs! I have a few of the exact chairs from my Mom (late 60s? I believe.) Have been wanting to tackle them myself-have a question about the chair backs…how did you get fabric so nicely and tightly fitting on the wooden back? Please share…mine are waiting in my cold basement for just the right fix!!!!!

Hello, I’m from France and I’m faithfull to Before and after posts.
I love Sarah’s chairs and my dream is to find a set of such chairs !
Congratulations Sarah and thank you Design Sponge ! (sorry for my sad english…)

To heidi walkush, the backs of the chairs need to be carefully pulled off the fronts, I pried them apart with a couple of screwdrivers and hammer, but be careful not to go too gungho and split the backing piece, they are hell to replace! There usually is piping too around the top piece and for a really professional finish, you are best to redo the piping… Good Luck!

I know this was posted over two years ago, but I stumbled upon this a few days ago. I am completely obsessed with the fabric that Sarah used- the website that was she got it from doesn’t work (anymore?). I have searche and searched for the name or designer and have had no luck! Does anyone have any info (other than its from cloth fabric)? I would really appreciate it!

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